.394 San Diego Pale Ale | AleSmith Brewing Company

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Notes / Commercial Description:
In early 2014, Tony Gwynn’s team approached AleSmith to create a distinctive beer for the baseball legend. A meeting was called at the Gwynn household, which included a sampling of AleSmith beers to identify Tony’s preferences. He wanted the beer to be “light with a kick” which he elaborated further to mean full of hop character and light in body and color. The result of the Gwynn family’s feedback on test batches rendered a golden pale ale full of American hop flavor and aroma, with a subdued bitterness and a malty sweet finish. AleSmith San Diego Pale Ale .394 pays tribute to the city that Tony loved and the career high batting average that he achieved in ‘94. Discover what happens when a Hall of Fame perfectionist crafts a beer with a world-class brewery. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Tony and Alicia Gwynn Foundation (TAG).

Overall: An excellent west coast style pale ale. It's light and refreshing without sacrificing flavor. Glad to see a good balance of citrus, bitter, and lightly sweet malt. Deserves to be sipped with some tacos on a beach.

12oz bottle from the six pack with my FW Imperial Nonic glass
Notes from 05/31/2015

A: Bright caramel colored body with a few amber tones brushed in. Has a slight hop hazed appearance that clouds up the glass some. About two fingers wide of dense white whip hit the brim for a few moments. Lots of broken tracked lacing is left clinging to the glass.

S: The aroma is bright and floral with hops that suggest peach, apricot, and tangerine fruit. Not picking up much malt here at all other than some faint bready sweetness. Hops are super fresh and green with a grassy quality to them. Really loving the nose here as the quality is high and the hops very fresh and clean.

T: Tasting uber fresh with ripe orchard Peach/Apricot, leafy greens, and a tangerine citrus note. The beer has a moderately high amount of bitterness kept in balance by some malt action in the back. Mostly bready and/or light biscuit with a touch of sweetness there. This is just an excellent craft of a Pale Ale chalked full of bright fresh floral hops.

M: Moderate to lighter filling body with a solid cream like consistency. Smooth with a light peppery bitterness across the palate. Finishes dry and crisp with the perfect amount of resinous hop linger.

D: AleSmith nailed it with this near perfect APA. Practically flawless with its bright fresh hops, balanced bready malt, and easy quaffability. Really quite exemplary to the style. They did Tony Gwynn right by this one.

This is hands down one of the best Pale Ales I have ever tried. Pours a perfectly clear copper, with a huge head that doesn't fade. Great hop aroma, and equally great taste. I have tried a lot of Pale Ales, and this might be the best.

Taste: A touch of caramel, some grapefruit and then a full blast of mango and pineapple; some bitterness builds, after the swallow, and the finish has a distinct sulfur aspect though the caramel malt hangs around as well

Mouthfeel: Medium body with moderate carbonation

Overall: Overall, the sweetness gets to me somewhat and I didn't care for the sulfur in the finish; nits, I realize, but there are lots of good APAs out there

Pours a clear orange with a foamy off-white head that settles to a small cap on top of the beer. Foamy rings of lace line the glass on the drink down. Smell is of malt, citrus fruit, and citrus zest aromas. Taste is much the same with citrus zest and grapefruit juice flavors on the finish. There is a mild amount of hop bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a good level of carbonation with a crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is a very good beer that is quite tasty and super easy to drink.

Look: Clear amber. Persistent, dense, white head. Sticky lace. Good artwork left on the sides of the glass as the beer disappears.
Smell: Sharp pine at first. Some malt sweetness. Nice mix, leaning on the pine.
Taste: Hops, pine, malt sweetness. Very nice.
Feel: Medium feel with good amount of lather in the mouth. Heavier than a traditional pale ale.

Overall - For me, this is one the better hoppy beers from AleSmith. I was never a fan of their IPA. The Imperial .394 was not my cup of tea. Now, this one...I like it! More like an IPA if you ask me. Good stuff man.

It looks like I wasn't the only fan of Tony Gwynn. Here's a beer which will bring back memories of his .394 batting average during the 1994 season. On-tap at AleSmith itself and served in a shaker pint, on to the beer:

Light orange with a brush-up of copper, a creamy half-inch of head retains very well on top. Tiny bubbles are visible in the beer's body throughout the drinking session, and what that happens thick glops of lace stick around the glass. The aroma hits the target to the San Diego fanbase. If you like those hops, get ready for an extra dose. Resin, lycee, pineapple, pine, grapefruit, all good reasons to salivate before your first sip.

After the aroma, I wasn't surprised to taste a very hop-forward pale ale. It tastes juicy, like juiced tropical fruits. It has bittersweet fruits as well. Carmelized malts make a breakthrough before being beaten down by kiwi, sweet grapefruit, and a mélange of citrus fruits. Although hoppy, the beer does not hit the palate as bitter. In fact, the beer is smooth and creamy, and that's just icing on the cake to this delicious ale.

Short and sweet, this is an amazing modern take on a pale that I could drink all day, every day. Bright, flavorful, unique and familiar at the same time. Crisp and easy to drink, and some proceeds go to a good cause. Not much more you could ask for. Cheers!

Copper hued with a faint murkiness. A fingernail of beige rests on top. Light lacing on the glass. Aroma of citrus hops is what is featured in the nose along with light malt. Initially it starts off fairly bitter, but that bitterness is quickly mellowed by the light malt Well balanced. The mouth is dry, crisp, and relatively smooth.

Appearance: Pours a fairly hazy amber orange with a moderate amount of bubbles. Big two finger off white head which settles into a thin creamy layer.

Smell: A juicy and earthy hop forward aroma with a scent of citrus and pine. Upfront citrus hop scent of grapefruit, orange peel, mango, tangerine, and lemon along with some pineapple. Good hints of pine resin and grassy hops. Pale malt with hints of caramel, grains, and cracker with yeast. A very solid juicy aroma.

Taste: Like it smells, a juicy and earthy hop driven taste with notes of citrus fruit and pine. Upfront juicy citrus hop notes of orange peel, grapefruit, mango, tangerine, and lemon zest along with pineapple. Spicy notes of pine resin and slight grassy hops. Pale malt notes of caramel, grains, and cracker along with some yeast. A very good juicy taste.